Pop Culture: Sports Bites

Golak: Well, the Browns got Johnny Football. Many fans have already nicknamed him "Johnny Cleveland" and pre-ordered their "Manziel" jersey online (or replaced the nameplate on the old Couch jersey they had sitting in the attic). How long until these same fans are burning that jersey in effigy in the Muni lot?

Sumukh: Knowing Cleveland fans, it'll be after his first interception.

DEAR MAMA

Sumukh: It was Mother's Day on Sunday, and there was perhaps no better lead-in to that than Kevin Durant's wonderful MVP speech in which he credited his mother as the "real MVP." After that speech, it's hard to not see a perfect story being the Thunder winning the NBA title.

Golak: With the St. Louis Rams’ selection of Michael Sam in last weekend’s draft, the NFL officially has its first openly gay player. The event was tent-poled by a beautiful and honest display of affection from Sam to his boyfriend after the selection, aired for a national audience on ESPN, and a less-than-subtle backlash against the event on Twitter. When things like this happen, do you prefer to look at how far we have come or how far we still need to go?

Sumukh: How far we still need to go. If the Rams win the Super Bowl, and Sam makes out with his boyfriend to a worldwide audience and then says he's going to Disney World to marry him and no one has a reaction to it other than seeing it as normal, we've reached a better point where the actual football game is all we have to worry about.

SOCCER? I BARELY KNOW HER.

Sumukh: Manchester City won the English Premier League title on Sunday. Golak, I know you're not the biggest soccer fan, so did you even know this happened and do you think we'll get to a point where this gets as much media coverage as the fourth round of the NFL draft?

Golak: Probably not. I don’t think “true” footballers will make U.S. headlines during draft day unless they’re picked up as punkers in the late rounds.